Busted Flat in Rockaway
by Merel
Summary: Chapter One revised and reposted. Alex is waiting for a tow. Story set sometime time after Purgatory but takes a hard right into AU after that.
1. Chapter 1 OLD

**Author's Notes: **Formatting Issues – text in _italics_ are thoughts, unless it within dialog, and then it's just a form of emphasis. Text in **bold** is strong emphasis, i.e. shouting.

Chapter One - Feelin' About as Faded as Her Jeans

Alex knew the minute she turned into the curve that she was going to lose control. Instinctively she spun the wheel in the opposite direction, correcting the car's slide but not before she bounced off the curb and heard and felt the distinctive pop of a tire blowing.

She slowed down to a crawl and hobbled along the darkened street until she could safely pull over, putting the car in park and cutting the engine.

She sat for a minute, the heavy rain pounding down on the roof of the cheap rental car. Of course it would be in monsoon weather like this when her trusty little Honda would break down and she'd be in this rented piece of crap.

She gave the steering wheel a good pound with both fists before clenching it tight, her knuckles going white with tension. She blinked back tears that had been threatening all day.

_The perfect fucking ending to the perfect fucking day._

She shook off the emotions and reached for her purse. With no police radio in the rental car she needed her cell. Flipping it open she paused for a moment, frowning at the display. She moved down the list of her contacts and finally pressed the speed dial for One Police Plaza.

"This is Alex Eames, Major Case. Yes, Officer Barrett, I'm having some car trouble. No I'm not in my usual vehicle. Can you send a tow for me? A flat. I was on my way home—" There was a burst of static and Alex pulled the phone from her ear to look at the display. It was powering down.

_Just. Fucking. Great._

No radio, now no cell, and, of course, her car charger was in her car. Alex took a deep breath and rested her head on the steering wheel, trying to clear her mind so she could deal with this situation.

She had a few options. She could change the flat herself, she could hobble along until she found a service station, or she could wait it out and hope that she'd given Barrett enough info for them to find her.

She pressed her nose to the side window, trying to get a better view out into the murky darkness. It was two in the morning and the street she was on was empty, the rain still coming down steady and hard. There was no way she wanted to get out of the car in this downpour and struggle with a tire iron on the side of the road, and she couldn't think of a service station within a few miles that she could get to. Besides, from the sound of the tire blowing, she knew she would be riding on the wheel rim and she didn't relish risking any more damage to the rental car.

So wait it would be.

Alex leaned back, wrapping her arms around herself, wondering what more could go wrong for her today.

**XXXOOOXXX**

His cell phone rang, jerking Bobby awake. Yet again he'd fallen asleep in his living room, television remote resting on his chest, an empty beer bottle tucked between him and the back of the sofa.

He reached back over his head, his fingers fumbling for his cell, which he'd placed on the end table before relaxing into an evening of watching a repeat of Forensic Files. He'd made it half-way through the first episode and was snoring by the second.

"Goren. Yes. Where is she? She say she was headed home? No, I know her route. No, no, I'll back-track it and give you all a call when I find her. It's not a problem. I'm sure in this weather you guys have enough to deal with. Thanks for calling."

He closed the phone with a snap, lying there on his back for a moment staring at the ceiling. He heaved a sigh and sat up.

_The woman is going to be the death of me, one way or the other. _

Bobby shook his head, trying to clearing the sleep away, and rose from the sofa. He grabbed his leather jacket off the chair by the door and pocketed his cell phone before gathering up his keys and heading out.

He trotted down the stairs and out the entrance of his building onto the street. He'd had to park several blocks away, having gotten in so late, but it gave him a chance to clear his head. He was still angry at Alex and wanted to make sure he got himself squared away before he found her.

It just added insult to injury that his partner would waste a call to One Police Plaza when her car broke down, rather than calling him. He knew she'd been pissed with him; almost as angry as he'd been with her. And here she was again, doing exactly what had gotten him angry earlier.

Bobby could feel his back molars grinding against each other and he tried to relax his jaw. His partner was hard-headed and stubborn and could hold a grudge longer than anyone he knew. He'd always known how to back down, work around her temper, and make things right between. But today she'd pushed him past his limits – she'd allowed her anger at him to get in the way of an interrogation and it almost got her hurt.

Bobby ran an agitated hand through his hair as he remembered how he and Ross and two other officers had rushed to pull the suspect off of Eames. She'd come out of the interrogation room unscathed, but Bobby hadn't. He didn't think he'd ever been so frightened. And after the fright had worn off, he didn't think he'd ever been so angry.

He'd tried to confront Alex, but she'd blown him off, grabbing her purse from her desk and darting from the bullpen amidst high-fives and cheers for her success at getting a confession and arrest. Alex had left Bobby standing in her wake, still physically shaking over what could have happened.

And that was Alex's style; brush things off, gloss them over, never admitting to any close-calls or indecision or, god forbid, any weakness. He knew that. And usually he could work within those confines, giving her the hands-off, unemotional approach she needed to get her job done.

But this time he couldn't.

This time had shaken him to the core and, worse still, had driven home to him just how much Alex meant to him. And he wasn't about to let some confession, some arrest record, or some stupid fucking job take that away from him

**To Be Continued **


	2. Chapter 1 REVISED

The almost complete rewrite of parts of this chapter are thanks to the help of lj user"lozziecap" -- she really helped me make this a much better first chapter. Thanks, sweetie, I send you a virtual Vincent to hug and kiss on you.

Chapter One – Feeling About as Faded as Her Jeans

Alex knew the minute she turned into the curve that she was going to lose control of the car. Instinctively she spun the wheel in the opposite direction, correcting the car's slide, but not before she had bounced off the curb. She heard and felt the distinctive pop of a tire blowing.

She slowed down to a crawl and hobbled along the darkened street until she could safely pull over. She put the car in park and cut the engine.

She sat for a minute, the heavy rain pounding down on the roof of the cheap rental car. Of course it would be in monsoon weather like this when her trusty little Honda would break down and she'd be in this rented piece of crap.

Eames gave the steering wheel a good pounding with both fists before clenching it tight, her knuckles going white with tension. She blinked back the tears that had been threatening all day.

_The perfect fucking ending to the perfect fucking day._

She shook off the emotions and reached for her purse. With no police radio in the rental car she needed her cell. Flipping it open she paused for a moment, frowning at the display. She moved down the list of her contacts and finally pressed the speed dial for One Police Plaza.

"This is Alex Eames, Major Case. Yes, Officer Barrett, I'm having some car trouble. No I'm not in my usual vehicle. Can you send a tow for me? A flat. I was on my way home—" There was a burst of static and Alex pulled the phone from her ear to look at the display. The phone was powering down.

_Just. Fucking. Great._

No radio, now no cell, and, of course, no charger. It was in her car. Alex took a deep breath and rested her head on the steering wheel, trying to clear her mind so she could deal with this situation.

She had a few options. She could change the flat herself, she could limp along until she found a service station, or she could wait it out and hope that she'd given Barrett enough information for them to find her.

She pressed her nose to the side window, trying to get a better view out into the murky darkness. It was two in the morning and the street she was on was empty, the rain still coming down steady and hard. There was no way she wanted to get out of the car in this downpour and struggle with a tire iron on the side of the road, and she couldn't think of a service station within a few miles that she could get to. Besides, from the sound of the tire blowing, she knew if she were to try that she would be driving on the wheel rim and she didn't relish adding any more damage to the rental car.

So. Wait it would be.

Alex leaned back, wrapping her arms around herself, wondering what more could go wrong for her today.

His cell phone rang, jerking Bobby awake. Yet again he'd fallen asleep in his living room, the television remote resting on his chest, an empty beer bottle tucked between him and the back of the sofa.

He reached back over his head, his fingers fumbling for his cell, which he'd tossed on the end table before relaxing into an evening of watching repeats of Forensic Files. He'd made it half-way through the first episode and was snoring by the second.

"Goren. Yes. Where is she? She say she was headed home? No, I know her route. No, no, I'll back-track it and give you all a call when I find her. It's not a problem. I'm sure in this weather you guys have enough to deal with. Thanks for calling."

He closed the phone with a snap. Lying there on his back he stared up at the ceiling. He knew what he had to do and with a deep sigh he sat up. The last person he wanted to face tonight was his partner – after the day they'd had today, both of them needed a little time apart. And while a six pack of German beer was not the best of company on a cold, rainy night, Bobby guessed it was more welcoming that his partner would be.

_The woman is going to be the death of me, one way or the other. _

Grabbing his leather jacket from the chair by the door, Bobby pocketed his cell phone before gathering up his keys and heading out. He'd gotten in late and had to go several blocks to get to his car, but the walk gave him a chance to clear his head.

The dark, rainy night held a chill that made him wish he'd grabbed some gloves and the air held the crisp smell of fall. Halloween was knocking on the door and before anyone knew it Thanksgiving would be looming. It was hard to believe it was going on a year since his world had begun crumbling around him, falling in tatters like brown leaves from the trees.

The rain was still falling and Bobby pulled the collar of his jacket up, feeling the wet and chill creep into his bones. He was getting old. Too damn old to be dealing with the traumas of childhood; wasted moments and haunted memories. And definitely too old to be doing whatever it was he and Eames were doing. The games, the emotional sparring, it had to end.

He shook his head to rid his hair of some of the rain, then slipped into the Mustang and started it. The engine roared to life, the thrum of the eight cylinders vibrating the steering wheel beneath his hands. A small comfort came as he slouched into the leather seat, the confines the car warming and cocooning him.

As the windshield wipers slapped angrily against the downpour, Bobby tried to figure out how he was going to handle the _situation_ with Eames. He felt a familiar tug in his chest when he thought about her. When had their friendship become a _situation_?

For that matter, when had their partnership ripened into a friendship? He'd had many partners in his career, but none of those relationships had ever moved beyond the squad room. With Alex, there had been this subtle chemistry, this connection – at least for him.

She always gave him room to work, room to be himself, no matter how strange she might consider his tactics. She'd also been the one person that he'd allowed himself to lean on. And more importantly, she'd known how hard that was for him. Bobby Goren didn't give his trust easily – lessons learned early on had taught him that people, no matter how well meaning, always let you down.

Alex had never let him down. Not once. And without even knowing it, he'd begun to rely on her. And slowly the partnership had grown into friendship. And that friendship had begun to grow into . . . what?

He'd let Eames breech the emotional barriers he'd built up. Before he knew it she was in his heart and he'd found himself caring for her in a way that both surprised and confused him. He hadn't even had time to begin to contemplate what these new feelings might mean when his mother had fallen ill and his world had tumbled out of control.

Now Eames was angry with him in a way that he didn't understand and he was clueless as how to even begin to get back to stable ground with her, much less think about what more they could have had.

So here he was driving through the dark, flooded streets of New York, searching for his partner – a woman who, if recent events could predict, would welcome his presence as cheerfully as a case of the stomach flu. Bobby felt his own anger at this bubbling up and he tried to tamp it down. He had to get himself squared away before he found her. Their two tempers meeting head-on held nothing but the certainty of a very bad ending.

Bobby could feel his back molars grinding against each other and he tried to relax his jaw. His partner was hard-headed and stubborn and could hold a grudge longer than anyone he knew. In the past he'd always been willing to back down; had known how to work around her temper and make things right between them.

But today, Alex had pushed him past the limits of his patience. Today, her anger at him had led her into a dangerous place and that was something he couldn't tolerate. Something was going to have to give. Bobby just hoped it wasn't their partnership.

**To Be Continued**


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter Two -- Playing Soft While Bobby Sang the Blues

The crunch of gravel and the heavy hum of an engine startled Eames awake. Glancing up into the rear view mirror she blinked, squinting against the glare of head lights. The dashboard clock confirmed she'd nodded off.

She looked over her left shoulder, trying to see through the dark and rain, but didn't lower the window. A form appeared and then there was the flash of a police shield.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Alex smiled and opened the window. "How in the hell did you guys find me? I thought I'd be here all night." The officer was tall and from her position in the car all she could see was his belt buckle.

"It helps that you're a creature of habit, Eames."

A breath caught in her chest as the form before her crouched down and she came nose to nose with a very soggy Bobby Goren.

Her eyes rounded. "What are you doing here?"

Bobby raised a brow at her. "Seemed like a nice night for a drive?" he replied drolly. "How about you?"

She fought back the threatening smirk. "Very funny, Goren."

He pursed his lips and took a deep breath. "Barrett called me. They figured I might know your route home."

She sighed and leaned back in her seat. "Typical Bobby Goren. The white knight rushing in to save the day."

He looked down at his drenched leather jacket, then back at Alex. "At best, a tarnished knight in a leaky, old Mustang."

"Bobby," Alex sighed, closing her eyes, suddenly feeling very tired. "I'm sorry you had to come out in this." She hoped the tightness of her voice didn't betray her. She knew he was trying in his own way to make things right between the two of them, but her defenses were still tight and she wasn't ready yet to let down her guard with him.

Bobby's brow furrowed. "There are dozens of MVAs tonight. I figured I'd help out and save the uniforms a trip." When she at last looked up at him and gave him a weary smile, he shrugged. "Quit bitching and pop the trunk so I can get to the spare."

"Jesus, Bobby, it's pouring, you're going to drown. Just leave it and give me a lift home. I'll get them to tow the car in the morning."

He eyed his surroundings. "In this neighborhood? Come morning this car won't be here. Well . . " He hesitated. "Most of it won't be here. You want to deal with the rental company when you bring them back two tires and an alternator?" He cocked his head and raised a brow. "Pop the trunk."

"Fine, you wanna change my tire, change my tire." She reached under the dash and yanked the latch to the trunk, popping it open. "Knock yourself out, Goren."

As he moved to the trunk Alex sat back in the seat with a huff. It wasn't that she wasn't thankful for the help. But of all the people she didn't want to be indebted to right now, it was Robert Goren. She was hanging on to the last threads of her anger over his betrayal of their partnership. Bygones were not yet bygones.

Her fingers drummed a tattoo on the steering wheel as she listened to Bobby rummage about in the trunk. She could feel the tension tighten the muscles of her neck and reached a hand up to try to rub it away.

But it wasn't going anywhere. Much like her relationship with her now all she wanted was a hot bath and a cold glass of Chardonnay. To hell with thunder storms and flat tires. To hell with partners who can ride in to save the day, but can't manage to save themselves. Why couldn't this day just end already?

Glancing at the dash clock, Alex unlatched her seat belt and opened the door. She leaned out and craned her neck looking to the back of the car, the cold, hard rain pelting against her skull. "Goren," she shouted. "What in the world is taking so long?"

Bobby straightened slowly from his hunched position, peering over the open trunk at his partner. "There's no spare," he stated simply.

Alex blinked at him, pushing the wet bangs from her eyes. "No spare?"

He shook his head. "No jack either."

"What?" she snapped.

He raised a brow and repeated, slowly, "No spare, no jack. . . however there is a tire iron." He flourished the piece of metal.

Lurching from the car, Alex pushed her partner out of the way and began searching the trunk herself. "Are you fucking kidding me?" she muttered, tossing aside a dirty blanket and several stained and torn road maps.

"Eames, why would I kid you about that?"

She stopped and looked up at him. "That was a rhetorical question, Goren."

He shrugged. "I can't be sure these days. Better to ask."

She stood, slamming the trunk closed. "What in the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Bobby opened his mouth to say something but seemed to think better of it. He shook his head and turned to walk away.

Alex grabbed his arm. "No, you were going to say something. So say it."

He pulled free of her grasp. "I'm not having this conversation with you. I can't—"

"Of course you can't." she muttered, turning away. Her hands clenched into fists at her side as her anger bubbled up. _He's right, Alex, not here, not now. So **not** __a good idea. _But, oh, how she'd just love to let loose with some Irish temper and have at it with him. Once and for all.

A part of her just wanted to pop him one. Right on the nose. Hearing the crunch of cartilage might be just the thing to soothe her. Her right hand clenched into a fist – she flexed her fingers, trying to ease the tension.

Violence never solved anything. She learned that back in the third grade when she'd beat the tar out of Steven Wilson for bullying her little brother during gym class. She'd spent two hours in the principal's office as he lectured her and two minutes across her father's knee as he reinforced those words of wisdom with the palm of his hand.

She also knew that her partner wouldn't take kindly to a poke in the snout, and, well **-** frankly** - **he was just big enough to scare her.

The sound of Bobby's fist hitting the trunk of the car startled Alex and she whirled to face him. What she saw surprised her. It wasn't the cold anger and fury that his features usually held when he'd lost control of his temper. What she saw in his face and eyes was a terrible mixture of pain and desperation.

"I don't know what you want from me." The anguish rolled off him in waves and Alex instinctively took a step back.

Her stomach knotted and Alex had to force herself not to turn and walk away. "You know, Bobby, all I really want from you is honesty and respect."

He let out a whoosh of air and leaned back against the car. "You don't think I respect you?"

Alex swallowed the lump in her throat and crossed her arms over her chest. It was partly to ward off the cold and wet, but also to give her some space – to place a barrier between Bobby and the emotions that seemed to have settled in her chest, threatening to spill out of her.

"You lied to me, Bobby. You lied and manipulated me and I hate that." She reached up and swiped her bangs from her face. "I hate that you could do that to me so easily and without so much as a thought."

His face hardened into the emotionless mask she'd come to despise. "I told you why—"

She held up a hand, silencing him. "No, you gave me a half-assed excuse and, you know, I think I deserve more than that. Maybe you could sell that to Ross, but to me? To me, Bobby?"

"God damn it!" His fist pounded the trunk again. "I don't see why you can't understand that I did what I needed to do. It wasn't a choice I was given, it was thrust at me and it was either follow through or give up on ever—."

"Please, Bobby! Where was all this concern for your job this past year? You were practically throwing your career away with both hands. I bent over backwards trying to help, covering for you, but you were hell-bent on self-destruction. But now? Now this job is so damn important to you that you're willing to lie to me, risk your life—"

"You're right," he yelled, standing up. "It was stupid and thoughtless and selfish, but for the life of me, Eames, I'd do it again to get back what I felt I'd lost."

She snorted, shaking her head, a tear trickling down her cheek. "Your fucking badge?"

"My partner."

**To Be Continued**


End file.
